1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an upright vacuum cleaner having a main cleaner assembly to which a floor nozzle having a rotatable brush or agitator is coupled.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior upright vacuum cleaners include, among other things, a motor-driven air blower or fan in a main cleaner assembly for drawing in dust and dirt, and a motor in a floor nozzle for rotating a rotatable brush or agitator. Since the conventional upright vacuum cleaner requires two separate motors, it has been disadvantageous in that it is heavy and costly, and the floor nozzle itself is large in size, rendering cleaning a tedious and time-consuming operation.
To eliminate the above shortcomings, it has been proposed to have the motor-driven fan positioned in a lower portion of the main cleaner assembly, with the agitator driven by a belt trained around a rotating shaft of the motor-driven fan. However, the proposed vacuum cleaner suffers the following difficulties:
Since it is necessary to draw air from the floor nozzle up to an upper portion of the main cleaner assembly, because of the low position of the motor-driven fan, an air suction passage through the main cleaner assembly is necessarily long and presents increased resistance to air flow, reducing the ability of the vacuum cleaner to draw dust and dirt. Another drawback is that the motor-driven fan has an axis extending transversely across the main cleaner assembly, which is therefore of increased width. The wide main cleaner assembly cannot be handled with ease for cleaning.